Model Railroaders: Interesting People

It is my belief Arnold, that we all subscribe to your motto. Collectively, it’s a group of folks who are imaginative, collegial, and willing to share. I have yet to meet anyone in the hobby who is snobbish.

Interesting topic. I have noticed some similarities among model railroaders. Myself, I collect Hot Wheels, Dinky’s, love the Beatles, own a couple classic full size cars, and Lionel trains. I’ve noticed a lot of MR’s own a classic car or two as well.

joel

I know several model railroaders who are also musicians.  While I am no professional, I started playing brass in the 4th grade and progressed through various instruments through college.  My claim to fame is that I played bass guitar in a band that opened for America in 2003.  I still play guitar, bass, keys, and drums on a fairly regular basis and occasionally do the one off gig when needed, but family and career really slowed that down 15 years ago.

However, I do practice the drums every night.  My wife loves me enough that she got me an electronic set of drums and I mixed them with my acoustic drums.  Perhaps I have that backwards and the electronic drums were for her.    My influences are mainly progressive rock acts like King Crimson, early Genesis, Yes, and Rush so polyrhythmic beats and odd time signatures with a healthy dose of double bass pedaling is therapeutic for me.  Music is a part of my soul and I have nearly 400 CDs and several hundred records including some rare bootlegs and the first US pressing of Jimmy Hendrix's "Are you Experienced".  I still love live rock shows and will be seeing the incredibly talented if not a bit odd band "Primus" a week from today live and a more modern prog band "Dream Theater" in support of their latest release in February since they postponed this week's show due to COVID.  Sigh ...

Does that make me interesting?  Probably not.  Just more nerdy.  I have other hobbies that are a combination of art and science like large format photography with a view camera, but again life has forced my photography to the terrible cell phone "selfie" type shots I post here more recently.   

What I find is that all my interests as well as my chosen career are left brain / right brain required endeavors.  The right amount of technical mixed with the right amount of artistic.  I think a lot of us on this forum share that trait.   

As they say Iam.the last one to let you down. My hobby is my therapy. I have been in funeral service for 46 years and as my wife says have a ton of stories and should be on my third book.

Arnold, my train friends seem to be very diverse from a world famous eye surgeon that likes "Z' scale, a Catholic Priest that likes Marklin and Lionel (like myself), a beer and wine importer that likes Marklin HO and 0, and more. They have all been great people, good friends, and possess a shared love of trains.

OMG, didn't you just open up Pandora's Box. 

Nope, I'm not going there - no way, no how.  I have a bunch of observations, all guaranteed to get this thread killed.

So I'll just laugh and keep them to myself.   

George

I was surprised to learn what an avid model railroader Rod Stewart is.

Hot rods, race boats, home improvement, ignoring P.I.T.A. people.

When West Side Joe mentioned Rod Stewart, I immediately thought of Neil Young.

Another quality many of us have in common is to dare to be different and not to be deterred by others who think we are crazy.

I became very mindful of this when I mentioned to others years ago that I write songs. When you tell people that, many will think you can't possibly be any good at it and that you're crazy for even attempting it.

IMO, it is a more socially acceptable to say you do model railroading, than it is to say you write songs, as a hobby, at least where I live in the NY area. (It may be different in Nashville where I'm told that  almost everyone claims to be a songwriter).

"I'm a master model railroader (in my imagination) and songwriter to boot;                Some people think I'm crazy, but I don't give a hoot."

LOL, Arnold

Looks like I am a bit different than the rest.  I'm not a collector of anything and no desire to be, I am not artistic, could not tell you who sung a song I have heard a 100 times, don't watch TV except when I am on a trainer, and while I loved visiting my brother (Marx) and father-in-law (PW Lionel) and running their trains with them, their loop running was very boring to me.  For fun, I basically lived outdoors (biking, running, swimming, kayaking, skiing (both type), sailing, and racing a lot of them).  For work, I was a military officer then civil service doing program management (and, as a pilot, doing some flying).  NOTE: I am retired and don't race anymore.

I did not get fully interested in model trains until command control became available and I visited some "operations" oriented layouts, both O scale as well as other scales.  I liked working a train.  I like randomly picking a car (boxcar, flatcar, whatever) and engine (switcher, road engine, again whatever) and trying to figure out how to move that car with that engine to a siding in the least number of moves.  My plywood layout is currently full of track and little scenery.  Probably a result of my engineering training and skipping my humanities classes.

I do enjoy being around train folks like those on this forum, and setting up and running trains with the NCT (haven't in a while, though).  I do be careful on what I say when at a meet or an operations session.  At one operations session I thought things went well but I made the mistake of saying that I ride bikes a lot (bicycle, not motorcycle) and I was never invited back.

I am going to York for primarily one purpose: buy more Ross switches.

Now you know.

@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:

It is my belief Arnold, that we all subscribe to your motto. Collectively, it’s a group of folks who are imaginative, collegial, and willing to share. I have yet to meet anyone in the hobby who is snobbish.

Unfortunately I have met 1 or 2 snobbish know it all's....but most are very helpful... 

We are certainly diverse and have some surprising interests!

As many of you know, I have been less active in model railroading the last few years and pursued other interests.

In that time, I have gotten back into painting and sketching, stamp collecting, backyard astronomy, woodcrafts, and even tried chainsaw carving (mostly bears)!!!

Somehow firing up my Stihl and attacking a big log gives a type of release much different from that of scratch building in O scale!

Go figure!

But I will always have my trains - that has been a constant since my high school days!

Jim

The nice way of putting it is that we all have a zest for life. The not so nice way is to say that we are all eccentrics. My hobbies include watching sports, sports memorabilia ( I especially focus on nickname inscription autographs), saving to one day own a Dodge Challenger scatpack/heckcat (it auto censored the actual name) outdoor Christmas decorating, and reading/watching videos on politics, economics, philosophy, and history (currently on Arthur Herman’s Cave and the Light; a history of how Plato & Aristotle influenced philosophy). I used to be a guitarist (hearing issues) and still enjoy listening to all kinds of rock, metal, and the occasional jazz or blues album.  Plus, I’m a weirdo for starting my O scale fascination at 19 years old after not touching a model train (ho) in 5 or ten years.

I used to have an interest in vehicles.  I have owned a '72 SS Malibu, but more interestingly this 1939 Chevy 3/4 ton that was mostly stock.  I gave it up in 2018 after 26 years of owning it as I just wasn't able to keep up with all my hobbies.

I have many interests in addition to trains and am just as comfortable at a Broadway show as I am at a metal concert.   In fact, that's the one thing folks are most surprised to learn about me, even more than my affinity for trains - that my favorite genre of music is metal and I'm a lifelong metalhead. I definitely do not fit that stereotype.

-Greg

In addition to my train habits/addiction, I'm an avid bicyclist, homebrewer and fly fisher... you'd think I could choose some cheaper pursuits  

@Greg Houser posted:

I have many interests in addition to trains and am just as comfortable at a Broadway show as I am at a metal concert.   In fact, that's the one thing folks are most surprised to learn about me, even more than my affinity for trains - that my favorite genre of music is metal and I'm a lifelong metalhead. I definitely do not fit that stereotype.

-Greg

Did you pick up the newest Iron Maiden release from last month?  It is awesome!

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Another quality many of us have in common is to dare to be different and not to be deterred by others who think we are crazy.

I became very mindful of this when I mentioned to others years ago that I write songs. When you tell people that, many will think you can't possibly be any good at it and that you're crazy for even attempting it.

IMO, it is a more socially acceptable to say you do model railroading, than it is to say you write songs, as a hobby, at least where I live in the NY area. (It may be different in Nashville where I'm told that  almost everyone claims to be a songwriter).

"I'm a master model railroader (in my imagination) and songwriter to boot;                Some people think I'm crazy, but I don't give a hoot."

LOL, Arnold

Very well stated and I can't agree more.  I have a YouTube channel with some original music I recorded where I wrote the music, the lyrics, sang, and played all the instruments.   They were just sketches of ideas at best and I often spent only three days from conception to final recording of demos.  It was originally started because of a Facebook group that had a weekly theme and was dedicated to artistic endeavors related to that theme.  I don't use Facebook anymore and the group disbanded anyway. 

I also have some demo tapes from prior to getting a digital studio that go back 30 years that have never been transferred to a digital format. 

While I don't embarrass easily, I don't share the channel for some reason.  It is the one area I guess I am self conscious?  If I were to put my train videos onto YouTube, I would start another channel. 

@GG1 4877 posted:

...snip... I have nearly 400 CDs and several hundred records ...snip...

400 CDs? I have a Sony CD450 player that holds 400 and can drive a second one for 800 CDs:

My other non-model train interests are insulators, traffic signs,  and telephones.

Insulators:

Traffic signs; all but the bus stop signs (I got them at work when they were replaced) are from ebay or junk shops:

Records (that is a 78 spinning) I have about 2000, mostly classical:

Telephones:

I have a decent insulator collection myself that I currently have no-place to display.  My favorites are the carnival glass ones followed closely by my purple one and the large glass power insulators.  Out of the several hundred ones I have, I'd say 50 of them are worth displaying.  The rest are duplicates.  I got a lot as a teen climbing abandoned poles, but haven't picked up a new insulator in many years.

@GG1 4877 posted:

Did you pick up the newest Iron Maiden release from last month?  It is awesome!

I did - it's their best effort in a decade! They were the band which introduced me to metal when I saw the Flight of Icarus video on MTV and remain a favorite to this day.  It's hard to believe that with all the shows I've attended over the course of my life I have yet to see them live.  Closest was when my son was 4 I had tickets and skipped the show because my son was having surgery the morning of the concert. My son and I joke about it nowadays when it comes up.  I recently bought him Tool tickets as they're his favorite band and haven't toured in over a decade (well the last tour got derailed by Covid before it reached us). He tells me if I need surgery the day of the show he's going to the show...lol

-Greg

From heavy electrics, catenary and pantographs to....nature.

I am a somewhat successful planted aquarist, though I am a relative newbie and have much to learn.  I've always had a thing for freshwater aquatic ecosystems, (though I do oceanography, tides and saltwater for a living).  This 32 gallon BioCube scratches my inner limnologist itch, complete with nine different species of flora, and seven different species of ichthoids.

I had the privilege of recently attending a Zoom presentation by Jack Pearce.

Jack is an expert on installing lighting on passenger cars and vehicles for model railroads using fiber optics. His lighting work includes lit candles on tables where passengers sit in dining cars, and headlights, taillights, blinkers and even dashboard lights on O scale cars and trucks.

Jack is also a retired math professor and enters world class regattas (sailing competitions) at the age of 78.

He lives in Canada and has a 2,000 square foot train ayout that continues to evolve as he makes improvements.

When I meet a man like Jack who is older than me (I'm almost 70), I say to myself that I want to be like him when I grow up. LOL.

@G3750 posted:

OMG, didn't you just open up Pandora's Box. 

Nope, I'm not going there - no way, no how.  I have a bunch of observations, all guaranteed to get this thread killed.

So I'll just laugh and keep them to myself.   

George

Grab our emails from our profiles and continue the conversation offline! 

-Greg

As a car nut, l had long ago noticed that an auto magazine showed a collector car, l forget which (l have tunnel vision if it isn't a medium price orphan from about 1925-1940). An "orphan" is one no longer made (now includes Mercury, Pontiac, Olds, but many more), in a garage with walls lined with boxed Marx sets. Since then there have been many postings of car and train fans on here. Musicians are found above, conversely, while my mother had the radio on constantly (l remember when a new station came on  and played "Purple People Eater" all day, at least, but l have no interest in music, have ordered cars without radios, and have traded wornout ones where radio was not turned on (except for, maybe, tornado warnings).  My cousin ran a local radio talent show for musicians and went on to be a TV newscaster. Dif' strokes.  l have had several car related hobbies and am into photography and travel ( recently sharply curtailed), made attempts at two novels, one collected a shoebox of rejection slips, and am interested in a lot of history and archeology.  Have a lot of other interests,and as above, disinterests, which might also get this thread deleted.

My wife made a very complimentary remark about me and my diverse interests, and I bet many of you have wives that have made the same or similar remark about you: he is the most interesting man in the World.

Interesting topic. I have befriended many train people who’ve had interesting and diverse backgrounds - nasa scientists, corporate CEOs, mathematicians, historians, software designers, engineers (lots of them), etc, much like the people who’ve posted on this thread. But I have to be honest, I’ve also met quite a few “interesting” train people on the other end of the spectrum. For example,  I knew one guy who had a great HO layout. Unfortunately, i think he hadn’t taken a bath in over a year and his house could easily have been featured in an episode of the tv show “hoarders”. Another guy was the most opinionated and argumentative gent I had ever met. You could not make a comment or observation without him correcting you or telling you why you were wrong (in spite of the fact that he really knew very little about many of the topics he was opining on). It was almost pathological and quite funny. He had a great 2 rail scratch built engine collection and layout, but was a very strange person that no one wanted to associate with. Fortunately, these characters have not been anywhere close to a majority of my train hobby acquaintances, but they do seem to be in a somewhat greater concentration when compared to acquaintances in my other hobbies and interests. Maybe it’s a Florida thing or I’ve just had my share of some really interesting train hobby characters. Either way, it has always added some color to the social side of this hobby for me, lol!

@Greg Houser posted:

I have many interests in addition to trains and am just as comfortable at a Broadway show as I am at a metal concert.   In fact, that's the one thing folks are most surprised to learn about me, even more than my affinity for trains - that my favorite genre of music is metal and I'm a lifelong metalhead. I definitely do not fit that stereotype.

-Greg

I started to write a reply to Arnold's question and deleted it. This gave me the reason at least join in. Live concerts have been part of our marriage 26 years (beside my trains and her crocheting skills). ELO TSO (missed 2020 but UBS in Queens on 12/18!),BB King, Buddy Guy, KebMo, Moody Blues  all more times than I can count.

Best story is Buddy Guy and Yanni shows in the same week many years ago. I looked around at the 2nd show, Said to my bride, we maybe the only ones are doing these 2 shows this week!

@joe krasko posted:

Unfortunately I have met 1 or 2 snobbish know it all's....but most are very helpful...

Fortunately there aren't too many. once they show their snob, I leave......Lol

hopefully, be there in April

I've noticed that model railroaders truly span all groups. I've met people of every job type, political stance, religion, and age group (noticed more young people at York yesterday than ever). Events involving trains are truly melting pots of our society.

I saw a comment about people who are snobs. The nice thing about this hobby is that 99.9% of model railroaders are not snobs and are very friendly. That can't be said about other hobbies.

@CarGuyZM10 posted:

I've noticed that model railroaders truly span all groups. I've met people of every job type, political stance, religion, and age group (noticed more young people at York yesterday than ever). Events involving trains are truly melting pots of our society.

I saw a comment about people who are snobs. The nice thing about this hobby is that 99.9% of model railroaders are not snobs and are very friendly. That can't be said about other hobbies.

Maybe we are not snobs because we find beauty in things most people think are repulsive, like coal (happy to get coal in my Christmas stocking for my #97 coal elevator), ballast (I got mine by filling my pockets with ground up asphalt along the sides of roads), oil including its smell (love oil tanker unit trains) and scenery of all kinds (including dirt).

I, for one, have adopted the down and dirty style of model railroading. LOL, Arnold

A more recent diversion has been electric recumbent trikes.

Great way to explore rails to trails.  Reminiscent of when we had a rail riding go cart to explore the many abandoned tracks in S.E. PA.  Since the rails have been removed and the right of way paved over it makes for a great pastime.

Many years ago I thought that many train people were mama's boys.  There seemed to be a certain lack of machismo amongst them.  Now, I'm not trying to be judgemental about this;  it's just a personal observation.  Am I a mama's boy?  I don't thing so, but I can't speak for other people's opinion of me.

We're not exactly the hunting/fishing crowd (probably especially not the hunting types).  However, with that said I think most train people are fun and good people.  I think that we tend to be a bit more intellectual and educated.  If in the event of an EMP attack the others will still be able to eat.  We'll sit around lamenting that we ever switched to command control as we starve to death.

Alan

@ajzend posted:

We're not exactly the hunting/fishing crowd (probably especially not the hunting types).  

Alan

This is too funny. I love how we always view the world through our own particular filters. Hey Alan, I know quite a few, well credentialed and degreed model railroaders that are avid hunters and fisherman (myself included), LOL! Maybe there aren’t too many in your neck of the woods but they are certainly well represented over here in the Southeast and the Midwest. In fact, the most interesting part of the social side of this hobby is the amazingly varied backgrounds of the participants - all political persuasions, urban, rural, intellectuals, luddites, southerner, northerner, sportsman, craftsman, blue collar, white collar, those with machismo and even those as you’ve coined it, “mamas boys”.  It’s a very big tent.

@Strap Hanger posted:

This is too funny. I love how we always view the world through our own particular filters. Hey Alan, I know quite a few, well credentialed and degreed model railroaders that are avid hunters and fisherman (myself included), LOL! Maybe there aren’t too many in your neck of the woods but they are certainly well represented over here in the Southeast and the Midwest. In fact, the most interesting part of the social side of this hobby is the amazingly varied backgrounds of the participants - all political persuasions, urban, rural, intellectuals, luddites, southerner, northerner, sportsman, craftsman, blue collar, white collar, those with machismo and even those as you’ve coined it, “mamas boys”.  It’s a very big tent.

I totally agree with Strap Hanger, and would add that IMO the commonality among most model railroaders is joie de vive. Arnold

@Strap Hanger posted:

This is too funny. I love how we always view the world through our own particular filters. Hey Alan, I know quite a few, well credentialed and degreed model railroaders that are avid hunters and fisherman (myself included), LOL! Maybe there aren’t too many in your neck of the woods but they are certainly well represented over here in the Southeast and the Midwest. In fact, the most interesting part of the social side of this hobby is the amazingly varied backgrounds of the participants - all political persuasions, urban, rural, intellectuals, luddites, southerner, northerner, sportsman, craftsman, blue collar, white collar, those with machismo and even those as you’ve coined it, “mamas boys”.  It’s a very big tent.

I think you’re right and that my perception is most likely formed by the people that I have been in association with. It seems to fit the persona of someone from the southeast to be more of a hunter fisherman  than out here in the Pacific Northwest.
People out here do hunt and fish – including myself.  When I said what I said I was not talking in absolutes , but general tendencies.  I’m sure many of you out there are  as macho as they come. I myself felt at  the peak of my machismo when I bought the  girls train.
Alan

Ive always loved Trains but only in the last yr did i finally get into having a RR ..Anything Ford and Fast ..Shelby enthusist..Gun collector ..Antique Tractors are big here ..1958 John Deere 420 fully restored …1927 Fordson F..quite possibly the coolest gas burner I have and a 1941 Ford 9N ..I also fish in my pond and enjoy my family ..my almost 4 yr old Grandson is of course the apple of our eye being a parent was/is awesome but being a grandparent is off the hook ..he's the reason there is a layout now as im not sure Id have one without someone to share it with

I play this.

In addition to trains, I have many other hobbies: Jazz, cooking/baking, gardening (all very humdrum). The three "oddball" hobbies for me is horology (study of time and time keeping devices), book collecting, and anything Jean Shepherd.

Mechanical watch movements always fascinated me and as a kid, I always wanted to know how things work. I have a modest collection of pocket watches, wristwatches, and clocks. This winter, time permitting, I plan on rebuilding the movement in a Ball 1604B wristwatch.

I was brought up reading versus watching TV, so I can blame my parents for this hobby. The earliest books in my collection are antebellum (1790 is my earliest book). Sadly, I have run out of shelf space for any new additions but I keep buying books; I need to build more bookcases... This past Thursday, I just purchased two textbooks from the1890s and Robert Grimshaw's "Locomotive Catechism " (1923 edition).

My family listened to Shep in the early 1960s - late 1970s. As a young kid I was introduced Jean and his radio show. My father would play the broadcasts when we were in the car going somewhere. Needless to say, I got hooked! Fast-forward 18 years later and I have over 3,000 recorded broadcasts, all of his books, signed artwork, and unpublished manuscripts.

Bryce

@West Side Joe posted:

I was surprised to learn what an avid model railroader Rod Stewart is.

So was Ronald Reagan, Frank Sinatra, Gypsy Rose Lee, Emmett Kelly Sr & Jr, Harry James, Joe DiMaggio, Gene Tunney & Stan Musial. Reagan & Sinatra were TCA members.

I don't think you can pigeon hole model railroaders or any sub area, like 3 rail O.  There are some general assumptions, it tends to be a hobby where the age skews to be older, it tends to be something people come back to later in life once they get more established in life. Some things tend to come together, lot of train people IME tend to be car people, too for example. The common perception of people burrowed in their basement and not interacting is one that honestly bothers me, while I know that type exists, most of the train people I have met are pretty gregarious (ask a train person something, and don't be surprised if the answer takes a while.  Likewise I have found very few who are snobbish about the hobby. Yeah, there are some, have run into those into operations who pooh pooh, 'running trains in circles', or 'toy trains', but they are rare. Most of the time have seen the opposite, people who are happy others are into the hobby and go out of their way to help, been blown away by that. At the show I asked one of the modular club guys about the merits/faults of the ZW-L transformer they were using , and really gave me a good run down on it and have found the same thing with other things,too.

@ajzend posted: Many years ago I thought that many train people were mama's boys.  There seemed to be a certain lack of machismo amongst them.  Now, I'm not trying to be judgemental about this;  it's just a personal observation.  Am I a mama's boy?  I don't thing so, but I can't speak for other people's opinion of me.

We're not exactly the hunting/fishing crowd (probably especially not the hunting types). However, with that said I think most train people are fun and good people.  I think that we tend to be a bit more intellectual and educated.  If in the event of an EMP attack the others will still be able to eat.  We'll sit around lamenting that we ever switched to command control as we starve to death.

Alan

I have exactly one "train buddy" ... he's literally half my age.

My Labrador Retriever "Annie" and I were shooting ducks on a snowy January afternoon at a woods swamp not far from my house. Along the road, I noticed Atlas O coal hoppers on the seat of another hunter's truck. I caught him at the end of the day. Turned out he had picked them up earlier at the little train store, and he's an avid train guy with his young family.

You never know ... we genetically-wired train people ... are of all walks of life.

Luckily for us, both of our wives don't mind cooking the critters that we bring home. And, also, don't mind the train stuff ... they both just smile and roll their eyes when they see us doing the trains. lol

Happy railroading.

@CNJ Jim posted:

I have exactly one "train buddy" ... he's literally half my age.

My Labrador Retriever "Annie" and I were shooting ducks on a snowy January afternoon at a woods swamp not far from my house. Along the road, I noticed Atlas O coal hoppers on the seat of another hunter's truck. I caught him at the end of the day. Turned out he had picked them up earlier at the little train store, and he's an avid train guy with his young family.

You never know ... we genetically-wired train people ... are of all walks of life.

Luckily for us, both of our wives don't mind cooking the critters that we bring home. And, also, don't mind the train stuff ... they both just smile and roll their eyes when they see us doing the trains. lol

Happy railroading.

As I previously said my observations are a generality and not an absolute.  I have also noticed, as a generality, that many train guys or not married. Of course, most are.  
Alan

I've had three lifelong passions:  trains, boats, and my wife.  The trains I got into at a pretty young age:

for sailing, my dad bought one of these the week I was born.  This is me last week on my way to haul-out:

And my wife?  We started dating when I was 17 and she was 15.  But as you can see... she has her own interests...

Jon

This may get deleted, but here are my comments.

I was brought up on 17 sets of Lionel standard gauge. Dad would start setting up in September, & would all be running by Christmas. Mom insisted that the trains came down  by Easter.  My mother worked in the toy section of our local Woolworth's store. That is how dad got into doing repairs, was for mom's Woolworth customers.  We later would take the Reading Railroad passenger train down to Philadelphia, with my red wagon containing 2 bushel baskets of repairs loaded into the baggage car. I was only about 10 years old at that time. When we arrived at the Reading Terminal, we would off load my wagon, go around the corner on 11th street to Wm. Becker's train shop, and then on to Nicholas Smith's shop. Each had 1 of the bushel baskets loaded w/ repairs. We did this for several years starting in September and lasting thru January.  As I grew older, the next important thing in my life , was my 1954 Dodge w/ a replaced bored and stroked Hemi engine.  I was 21 when I married my hot wife and fathered 3 of the greatest kids on the earth. We have been married 58 years, still in love and still playing w/ trains .  Our life has been very blessed and the train hobbyist are the best.  Our business is 82 years old this past September.  Thank you all for your patronage thru the years.   Harry

That’s a great memory Harry and congratulations on the 82 years WOW.    Likewise, I spent time, and money, in both establishments. Mr. Becker’s son was at York last weekend with a vast selection of parts.